Sand in the Shorts: A Horse, a Horse, My Kingdom for a Horse

By James Phieffer

As we pass the one week mark of the provincial election, I'm taking a moment to say I'm sorry to be proven right (so far). Tim Hudak's Liberal-Lite campaign has resulted in the Liberals erasing a ten point PC lead in the last month.

Why? Because Hudak has given Ontarians no reason whatsoever to vote Progressive Conservative rather than Liberal.

Locally, the PC's have a strong candidate in Todd Smith, although he is up against the Scarlet-clad Tooth Fairy (aka Leona Dombrowsky), a skilled campaigner and someone who has a strong base in Belleville. But he is being wasted as the PC deep thinkers allow themselves to be distracted by the insignificant story of the week. Add to that the “foreign workers” idiocy of week one, and the question has to be asked – whose running this circus?

This is still a winnable election, and as the old saw goes, “there's only one poll that counts”.

But for October 6 to be a good day for the PC's, and for the province as a whole, there has to be a change in how the Hudak campaign is run.

“A horse. A horse, my kingdom for a horse...”

The weak, flea-bitten glue piles that Hudak has tried to ride to victory thus far now need to be put down for good. There are plenty of strong steeds an able prince might ride.

There is the Liberal energy policy. Windmills where they are not wanted, solar subsidized – and unable to connect to the grid due to a lack of planning. Subsidizing minimum wage solar cell assembly under the guise of building Ontario into a renewable energy technology powerhouse... Wasted money and wasted energy. Where is the PC publicity machine on that?

The most egregious example of corporate welfare in Ontario history – the Samsung Subsidy – seems to have been left by the side of the road.

Tim Hudak and his great minds in Toronto need to get ahead of the game. Enough of the dog distracted by a squirrel routine, where every little matter acts as a distraction from the big one – the chronic mismanagement of the province by the Liberals since they were elected in 2003. The billions wasted in the E-Health boondoggle, the $7 billion Samsung Subsidy, the renewable energy subsidies which threaten to send electricity rates even higher than they already are, while at the same time the province mismanages their implementation, meaning those who built solar facilities can't sell the power they generate.

Time to make the Scarlet-Clad Tooth Fairy and her Liberal cronies work for their re-election.